This branch of the Austrian Hesch family is descended from Johann Hesch and his wife Marya (Schlinz) Hesch, who came to America from Oberschlagles, Bohemia with three sons: Paul, Mathias, and Anton. +++Johann & Marya settled in Buffalo County, Wisconsin but moved to Pierz, Mn in about 1885. .+++Mathias settled in Waumandee, Wisconsin and moved to Pierz in 1911. +++Anton never married but farmed with his dad in Agram Township, where he died in 1911.+++And Paul, my great grandfather, settled five miles away, in Buckman, Minnesota. He died there in 1900.

Friday, April 3, 2009

Here's the plat map from Morrison County in 1892 for the town of Buckman. Enlarge it and see how many familiar names you can count!

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And here's Buckman in 1902, ten years

later (remember, Paul died in 1900).

Something we've missed over the years is the effects of the RIPLEY ESKER on the land west of Buckman. The plat maps don't show it, but there's a ridge of sand that parallels Hiways 371 and 10 from Brainerd to Sartell. Blow sand=poor farming soil. Grandpa Anton's farm in Royalton was on it, and so was the Docken farm where his brother Math started out, not to mention Mike Sand's farm and the Dropps place. (The big hill you encounter going to Pierz from Little Falls is the Ripley Esker--right after the Falls Ballroom, remember?)

A mile west of Buckman is still GOOD soil, but then the sand starts. Remember the gravel pit we played in when we went to gramma and grampas? And all the sandburs?? Ouch! This was why...lol